The present invention relates to an improvement to rotary hoes and, more particularly, relates to a means for preventing trash and crop residue from accumulating around a bearing of a no-till rotary hoe, thus destroying the bearing.
Earth working implements such as rotary hoes used to break up the soil crust close to young plants or to cultivate the fields after plowing have been used for many years. Today, as more farmers utilize chisel plowing rather than moldboard plowing, grass, plant roots, barbed wire, twine, and other trash materials remain on the ground surface. Subsequently, when the ground is cultivated with rotary hoes, the surface trash not turned under during chisel plowing is picked up by the rotary hoes and wrapped around the hoe wheel axle.
When trash is wrapped around the hoe wheel axle, it is often wedged next to a bushing causing greatly accelerated wear on the bushing and bearing seal. In this condition, the bearing seal will fail in an accelerated time frame requiring the farmer to replace the hoe wheel. Oftentimes, rocks are lodged between tines of the hoe wheels. When a rock is trapped in the tines, or trash, barbed wire or twine is wrapped around the hoe wheel axle, the hoe wheel will lock. When the hoe wheels lock, the farmer or operator must stop operation and attempt to dislodge the rock or untangle the mess around the axle which means more down time for the farmer, which translates into lost money.
To reduce trash buildup on rotary hoes, it has been common practice to position frame-mounted stripper fingers near the rotary tine path so the trash can be stripped from the rotating tine members. The problem with stripper fingers is that they do not minimize trash buildup on hoe wheel axles. A method to remove trash lodged in the tines of the hoe wheels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,971, but that structure does not protect the hoe wheel axle either.
Another common problem with previous rotary hoe systems is that rocks often get trapped in the tines of the hoe and then strike the support arm the hoe wheel is mounted from. When this occurs, the hoe wheel cannot rotate and the hoe wheel just plows a furrow in the field. This problem has been addressed somewhat in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,041. A minimum till rotary hoe is disclosed showing the back row of hoe wheels being extended laterally from the corresponding support arm, which can be seen in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,041. The minimum till rotary hoe described in this patent eliminates the problem of the rock striking its corresponding support arm thus causing a furrow to be dug, but it does not address a resulting problem. When a rock is lodged in the tines of the disclosed minimum till rotary hoe, the hoe wheel will tend to bounce and skip across the field because the rock will not permit the tines from properly penetrating the field. This will result in weeds being missed.
The need for an effective and long lasting rotary hoe has increased in recent years due to the renewed focus on the environment. It is recognized that farmers who take steps to improve their crop management practices also protect the health and safety of the food consuming public. Farmers clearly need to be involved in a vigorous effort to protect both ground water and surface water from contamination as a result of their farm management practices.
Farmers can greatly reduce the use of herbicides and in some cases eliminate them totally with the use of a rotary hoe. When herbicides are needed, they can be used in conjunction with the rotary hoe which will help the herbicide penetrate the soil and get to the roots of the weeds faster and directly thus allowing a greatly reduced amount of herbicide to be used. But farmers will not begin to use rotary hoes until the hoes can be cost effective for them to use. For a farmer to have to replace the bearings on his hoe wheels often is not practical, nor is having to stop operation to clean off the hoe wheels.